Courtesy of John Rudoff

Nazariy “Hrenka” Hryntsevych

March 10, 2003 – May 6, 2024

Defender at Heart

Nazariy Hryntsevych, known by his call sign “Hrenka,” was born on March 10, 2003, in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. He grew up supporting the local Nyva Vinnytsia football club and training in martial arts. He was eleven during the Revolution of Dignity in 2013–2014, when Ukrainians protested for democratic reforms and sovereignty. By fourteen, he had already decided to become a soldier. To prepare himself physically, Nazariy worked as a loader, building strength and discipline.

At seventeen, while studying law at Donetsk National University (which had relocated to Vinnytsia after russia’s 2014 occupation of Donetsk), he told his family he was going to Poland for work. Instead, Nazariy traveled to Mariupol to undergo training with the Azov Regiment, a unit of Ukraine’s National Guard. When he turned eighteen, he called home on his mother’s birthday, and told her the truth: “Mom, I’m an Azovets.”

In February 2022, russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Hrenka fought through the eighty-six-day siege of Mariupol as one of the youngest defenders of the Azovstal steel plant. His nineteenth birthday passed in heavy combat. Hrenka later said he did not even remember the date. During the siege, he sustained a concussion, facial shrapnel wounds, and broken ribs.

After evacuation orders were issued in May 2022 following the completion of the civilian evacuation from Azovstal, he and his fellow defenders entered russian captivity. Hrenka was held for approximately four months, including at the Olenivka detention facility in the occupied Donetsk region. During his captivity, russian media filmed Hrenka for propaganda purposes. To the occupiers’ disappointment, in those recordings, he stated that Donetsk and Luhansk are Ukrainian lands.

On September 21, 2022, Hrenka was released in a large-scale prisoner exchange between Ukraine and russia. Within weeks of returning home, he announced his decision to resume military service.

Kontakt12… “So you live under the Ukrainian flag.”

In 2023, Hrenka joined fellow Mariupol veterans in forming Kontakt12, a reconnaissance unit within the Azov Brigade. The name refers to twelve o’clock on a compass: Straight ahead. He commanded approximately thirty soldiers and served as commander of optical observation within the unit. Kontakt12 carried out reconnaissance missions, including operations in the Serebryansky Forest area and in the Luhansk region.

On May 5, 2024, he posted about Azov’s tenth anniversary: “10 years of improvement, friendship, revenge. The fight continues.” The following day, May 6, 2024, Nazariy Hryntsevych was killed in combat near Kreminna. He was twenty-one years old.

During his lifetime, he was awarded the Order “For Courage,” III degree. After his death, he was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Ukraine with the Order of the Golden Star, the country’s highest state honor. Citizens also petitioned to rename the street near his childhood school in Vinnytsia in his honor.

Nazariy Hryntsevych is survived by his mother, father, brother, sister, and fiancée.

He led by example. “If I make them crawl, I crawl with them. If we run ten kilometers, we run together. If we enter water, I go first.” His rule was simple: “Don’t require anything from your soldiers that you can’t do yourself.”

He spoke plainly about his generation: “The best ones go to war. If you’ve chosen the warrior’s path, your whole life will be a fight for justice.” At the same time, he acknowledged that not everyone fights on the front lines: “If someone does something for victory, that’s already a big contribution.”

Hrenka said: “I want to live in free Ukraine. When my children are born and ask where I was in 2022, I’ll say: ‘I made it so you live under the Ukrainian flag.’” He also said, “I’m nothing compared to the nation.”

Listen to your mother, eat your porridge, love Ukraine

At twenty, he refused a birthday celebration because his brothers-in-arms remained at war and in captivity.

In spring 2022, a camera captured Hrenka at Azovstal, exhausted and covered in dust. Looking into the lens, he said, “Listen to your mother, eat your porridge, love Ukraine.” The words spread widely across Ukraine and became associated with his name.

When Hrenka’s body was returned to Vinnytsia on May 7, 2024, thousands gathered and knelt along the streets. Red and white roses (Nyva’s colors) covered the roadway. Members of Kontakt12 lit flares, and red smoke rose above the stadium as they shouted his words until their voices cracked:

“LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER! EAT YOUR PORRIDGE! LOVE UKRAINE!”